The Paris Fire Brigade (French Brigade des Sapeurs-Pompiers de Paris, BSPP), is a French Army unit which serves as the fire service for Paris and certain sites of national strategic importance. The brigade is the third largest in the world behind Tokyo Fire Department and New York City Fire Department.
The brigade's main area of responsibility is the City of Paris and the surrounding départements of Seine-Saint-Denis, Val-de-Marne, and Hauts-de-Seine. It also serves the Centre Spatial Guyanais in Kourou, the Military Rocket Test Centre in Biscarosse, and the gas plant of Lacq-Artix. The other departments of metropolitan Paris have their own fire brigades.
The brigade is a unit of the French Army's Engineering Arm (Génie) and the firefighters are therefore sappers (sapeurs, thus sapeurs-pompiers). With 8,550 firemen, it is the largest fire brigade in Europe and the third largest urban fire service in the world, after the Tokyo Fire Department and New York City Fire Department. The brigade is placed at the disposal of the Paris Prefecture of Police in an arrangement similar to that of the French Gendarmerie. Its motto is "Save or Perish" (French "Sauver ou périr").
Another military force responsible for firefighting in France is the Marseille Naval Fire Battalion (BMPM). The remainder of France has civilian fire and rescue services (services départementaux d'incendie et de secours).
Read more about Paris Fire Brigade: Mission, History, Selection and Instruction, Resources, Corporate Organisation, Field Organisation, Special Services, Operations, Hazing Rape in May 2012
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